Angels?
Anxiety rises within when I turn on the news to see or hear of thousands of people flooding over the border. Can our economic system sustain the help they’ll need to start their new life? Will crime rates rise? How will this “border crisis” affect my life?
When I lived in a foreign country, I had to have a passport and went through security. There are good reasons for these requirements. Here I reflect not on policy, but on individual immigrants who are arriving or have already arrived in our communities. When I first arrived in Spain, trying to communicate with my limited grasp of the language caused me a lot of grief. The drastic change of language and lifestyle was often exhausting. I made a lot of mistakes and got homesick for family and the familiar. I depended on the kindness and patience of the citizens around me. I was a student, there to study. What will today’s immigrants to the US do? Where will they go? How will they live?
Recently, I visited family who live in a remote area of Arizona just north of the Mexico border. They shared a story of watching as a man limped past their house with bloody feet and collapsed in the shade of a nearby bush. My cousin brought him water, food, bandages, and aspirin. That man tearfully asked her to call border patrol; he was lost and could go no further. My cousins encounter many good people crossing the border, but they’ve also met those with evil intent. I pray we’ll all quickly discern the one from the other.
Many spend all or most of their savings to be guided across the border. According to border patrol, the coyotes (guides) exploit the travelers, sometimes requiring that they carry drugs, but always charging thousands of dollars to cross. Many aren’t able to pay the entire fee. Instead, they agree to be taken to Phoenix to work as indentured servants at low paying jobs. Often forced to sleep in hot, crowded garages with others working off their debt, they hand their paychecks to their “landlord”.
Unless we’re Native Americans, we live here because our ancestors were immigrants and fellow foreigners. The Bible instructs (in more than a dozen places) how to view immigrants, foreigners, strangers, aliens… whatever the name. One commentator remarks how King David of Israel long ago saw himself as a stranger, a foreigner traveling through this world to another, better one. He’d never feel truly home until he arrived in heaven. In Psalm 39, “He relates the struggle…between grace and corruption, between passion and patience.”
It’s interesting that when Jesus and his followers saw the crowd of over 5,000 hungry people, the disciples first anxious response was to suggest that they “send the multitude away.” (Luke 9:12) But Jesus took the few loaves of bread and a few fish they had gathered and miraculously made it be enough to feed the entire crowd. When we partner with God, our small efforts can turn into big deals. It’s the only miracle described in all four accounts of the life of Jesus. The authors must’ve really wanted readers to get the message.
This border crisis is an opportunity to subdue our fears, roll up our sleeves, and partner with God. Shall we ask what our communities are doing to prepare for people coming to join us in our dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Is my church ready to bless foreigners with a hospitable reception? Is my household prepared to be patient and kind to new residents struggling to communicate through a language barrier? Will I be as gracious as my cousin to help those I meet?
A passage that stands out on the subject is “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some of you have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2 NAS)
Source of Quoted Comment:
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Matthew Henry. p616. Zondervan. 1961.
